Wake me up and save me from the dark
by Henry Uchiha
Summary: It's not easy being fourteen and having the world come crashing down around you. For three friends their nightmares are just beginning. Will they be able to survive what their new world has in store for them? What will happen when they make new friends a long the way? Will they live? Or will they become just another walking corpse. Warning: contains boyxboy Don't like, don't read.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! So I've been looking forward to posting this story. I will put a warning as a start to each chapter as a reminder of what to expect and so with that, I will begin. Warning: Story contains scenes of bloody gore, detail of murder, some boyxboy, and may later have the ratings turned up. Hope you enjoy.**

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><p><strong>~Flash back Harry's POV~<strong>

London was still in ruins, buildings have crushed and tilting collapsed laying onto others, the streets were starting to fill more now these days with people who had begun to start repairs.

They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

As the clambering limp forms of hundreds of corpses began to file through the remaining supports of the half collapsed building, it began to groan louder and louder till screams echoed from the street bellow as a thousand windows smashed the sharp glass began raining down.

Then the building fell crushing the people in the street.

We hid on the remaining bits of concrete which remained on the top structure, people were already frantically running in desperation, clawing their way over the remains away anything in sight which was moving. "What are they!" they screamed, the women and men ran in a frantic long stride but they were all locked in one long headlong line, London had become a labyrinth. It was so simple for them to be killed. After all, they had just ensured it. As roars of screams

Michael looked and me and shook his head slightly; eyes full of an ocean of expanding tears, "N-No way, this can't be" he began. But I just shook my head. There was no point in denying what was going on directly in front of our eyes. How could you ignore the mass stench of a thousand rotting corpses all moving together and hunting. What point was there on denying the roar and screams of those who were falling under the ongoing, endless slaughter which never seemed to cease or give way.

What was the point at all any more?

That's what I thought anyway. I just couldn't see why we should care at all? This was a time where the living were envious of those six feet under. When the living envied the dead, you knew there was no time to care about what happened to others. What was important was your own survival. You had to look out for the skin on your back instead of making sure that you sugar coat everything.

I crouched behind the makeshift barrier of rock as I pulled Michael down. Our faces were coated thickly in dirt, grease and grime from everything around us. My lungs were starving for fresh air instead of the dust stained substance which we were forced to inhale right now. "Come on... We need to get out of here." I looked around over my bleeding shoulder towards where the gates of the park were beginning to open to let stragglers in. Even from here I could hear the distant shouts and orders from the guard as they were hauling in as many people as they could get.

I should have known at that time that something wrong was happening.

I lowered myself down slowly as my hands gripped onto the ragged concrete. I stared up towards the toned boy above me as we grasped on for anything that would help us get down: Steel girders, railings, strong ledges of concrete, absolutely anything that could help us descend the wreckage of what had become our home. There was no more full apartments. There was only the dark and cold desolate city which had become our ruins.

As the ledge cracked and my hand slipped, a sharp pain bellowed from my wrist and shoulder and the right side of my body as something sharp grabbed me. My vision blurred out of focus for a moment as the pain wedged me into a dark and cold recess of my mind where nothing made sense but how agonising this was. What the hell had just happened?! "You okay?!" Michael gasped as he pulled me back towards the ledge. His face was olive toned and slightly pale from the exhaustion of climbing and running. His eyes were dark and burdened with exhaustion from having to fight for his life. His clothes, like the rest of ours were torn and shredded almost beyond any use. His brow line was coated in sweat and dried dust which was now plastered to his skin. "Jesus Christ!" He stammered as he looked down and I managed to finally follow his line of vision.

Buried into my calf was a steel rod. "O-Oh... fuck." I gasped as I finally registered why I had felt such a bellowing sense of sharp pain. My grip loosened slightly as I couldn't take the sight.

Yeah so I gave that big speech about not being phased. But get over it. I. Don't. Like. Seeing. My. Blood.

"If you let go and drop. I swear to god I will kill you." Michael snarled. I knew that deep down he was trying to sway some deep sense of instinct anger to get me to survive.

But If I dropped and died right now?

He would have the possibility of killing me again.

He hand gripped around my wrists as after what felt like an eternity, our feet finally touched down on solid ground. Michael kept that grip as I looked down uncertainly. "It has pierced too deeply... just beneath the skin." I gritted my teeth. "Shouldn't be too hard to dig out." I watched Michael grab onto it.  
>"Okay... I'm going to count down from three... and rip it out." He paled slightly as he put his hand on it.<p>

In the distance I could hear the faint sounds of growls and long extended hisses. "Okay."

I took a long breath.

"Three."

The sound of skin tearing echoed down my ears as Michael pulled it out sharply. I bit as harshly as possible down on my lip. The sharp metallic taste filled my mouth as I harshly violated the skin of my lips. Anything to avoid my scream escaping to the ears of the risen... my shouts and cursed of anger however... "YOU FUCKING BASTARD! YOU SAID YOU WOULD COUNTDOWN FROM THREE!" My curled fist twitched towards his neck as my anger at the wound was now directed towards him. Though from his pale face and focused, determined look. I guessed my pain wasn't the most important thing at that time.

Our gazes were now locked determinedly onto the tall gates and fences which had been set up as an expanding barrier around the park to keep the walkers out. It would be absolutely impossible for the walkers to be able to climb onto them without impaling themselves. It was impossible to break the fence, even with their persistence.

But even so.

It was filling up fast. "Come on!" Michael grabbed me roughly and began to dragged us along as we saw people piling in by the hundreds to get to Victoria square. It had got to the extend that they were even allowing others to file into Buckingham palace to accommodate for the sheer amount of size. "Keep calm everyone!" The guards yelled.  
>"Great." I muttered. Michael rose a questioning eyebrow at me and I rolled my eyes as I turned my head back to the guard as we fell into the crushing crowd. "I spent years trying to get a response out of those cocky impassive arse holes and all of a sudden the dead come back to life and that's what gets a reaction?" I pushed for a laugh out of him but he just locked me with a disturbed and angry look.<br>"There's a time and place!" He barked.  
>"Well excuse for trying to bring some humour to a bad situation!" I glared viciously back at him.<br>"Talking to you is like trying to rise the dead!"

He paused as I turned my head slowly and pointed an accusing glare at him. "I didn't mean that pun."  
>"Sure chuckles! When I make a joke it's in appropriate, but when you start playing with words on the subject, that makes it okay?!" People were turning towards us with pointed glares as they were starting to take more notice.<br>"YOU TWO!"

We turned our head as the guards shoved us roughly inside of the park and slammed the gates shut behind us. Immediately the desperate clawed hands of hundreds began to smashed and punch at the gates as they screamed and pleaded their case.

Like I said earlier. There was no point now in denying what was going on. "Go! Run to the tunnels!" I screamed at them as I grabbed onto a few of their hands but was quickly shoved back by a guard without mercy as he glared into the pits of my eyes. Right now he had fulfilled his orders and now it was time for him to look out for his own skin.

The sound of repeated gates slamming shut, echoed around the park as the guards all received the order for lock down. Hundreds of persistent and desperate people remained as they slammed the gates violently. "There are children out here! YOU HAVE TO LET US IN!" One woman pleaded as she pushed a small bundle through the thin bars and began eagerly pushing her kids through the gap of the black iron. One man and woman quickly nodded her as they took hold of the baby and turned away quickly disappearing into the crowd. "HARRY! MICHAEL!" The shout echoed again.

My eyes searched around eagerly for the source of the shout. "Did you hear that?" I frowned and looked around for any sign of familiarity. All I could see were horses rearing as they angrily whinnied at the distant approach and vast gathering crowds.

_Oh come on! _My thoughts snarled as I looked for any familiar sight of turquoise and lilac among the crowd. You think that finding a boy with blue and lilac hair would be easy right? Well guess what? It. Freaking. Isn't.

It wasn't until the smallest shine of sunlight burst through the cloud cover and hit the gold of the statue, I managed to make out the smaller figure of a boy. His red hoody was pulled around his shoulders as he kept a white shirt on his torso. He was pressed into some black skinny jeans and trainers... I won't deny that my heart did a faint tap dance as I took in the sight of his face. His face was sculpted and smooth with soft peach skin, his eyes were a pale emerald and I will admit that on one or more occasion, I have lost myself in them.

The back of his short cut hair was a light turquoise which ended around his crown as his fringe and moving back was coloured lilac. I remember when it used to be his natural, beautiful gold. "Where have you guys-" He paused as he saw my leg. "Oh god." He whispered.  
>"It's fine Raffi." I tried to push for a smile as I hid a blush at how he got close to me and wrapped an arm around my torso. Even though he was smaller than me and only came up half a head shorter than me. I was still desperate for any sign of comfort or familiarity with him. You see, the three of us weren't much. Barely older than thirteen.<br>"What the hell happened." He whispered as he helped me over to the fountain where we managed to get a small spot, sat on the cold stone.

As I said earlier, the wound wasn't that deep, but it stung like hell! I guess Raffi could see this as he shed his hoody and used the sleeves to tied around my leg and compress it. There wasn't too much blood being lost and I still had feeling, that was a good sign.

What wasn't a good sign was Michael off to the left on his phone as he was desperately trying to get through to either his mom, his family, his girlfriend who were back up in Birmingham and far away from this onslaught.

As you can already probably guess about me. I had more interests in Raffi than I would ever have on a girl.

Michael was always able to get girls. I remember when we had been young, he always had the girls fawning over him.

And Raffi...?Well... Raffi was just one of those who seemed to never give a clue to about his preferences.

I winced slightly as he tightened the knot and finished compressing the wound. "Sorry." He sighed as we began to rest and catch our breath. We had all been on the run since the moon's shed of light and the sky's first drop of rain on the previous evening.

Ever since we had first starting hearing the growls and screams.

We were all pale and exhausted beyond anything else and were more than desperate just for this small respite. "Here I managed to get some water... even when the city is burning, people are still trying to make money." He held out a cold bottle of water and our palms crossed for the briefest of seconds before I took a small sip of the liquid. "You paid for rain water." I sighed quietly and Raffi glared off in the direction of the closed off park.

I raised my gaze and let the pouring rain hit me in the face as it cooled my beading brow. You would think that someone who spent most of the year, practising track and running at school would be in better shape? Well guess what. I spent most of the night and evening running so I deserved to be tired and out of breath! "Are you sure you're okay?" He said quietly and I nodded.

My gaze shifted over to a couple who were crying and holding each other in comfort as they were trying to make sense of everything going on around them.

I wish I was one of them. I wish I was in the arms of the person I loved as they told me that everything would be okay because we had each other. I wish I had that bond that could keep me going while I was having to face all of this. "You okay?"  
>"Fine... just... peachy." I sighed and stood as I looked away towards the dispersing crowds outside.<p>

There had to be some point to where this was all going now?

They had all us cramped into this space and had us locked in... They had us locked in like rats in a corner waiting for the shovel.

I looked over to Raffi who seemed to have a blank mask covering his expression. "A penny for your thoughts?" I whispered softly and watched those beautiful eyes lock onto me as I shuffled my feet slightly.  
>"I'm just thinking back to something they told us." Raffi murmured as he watched the distance.<br>"What?"  
>"They said there would be a jet to come and take out the immediate and future threat of the area." We watched and ducked as over head the quick and roaring sound of jets echoed around us.<p>

_The Immediate and future threat of the area? _My thoughts began to wonder, suspiciously and absently.

The jet slowly lined up with the long stretch of road and the expanding crowd who had turned up to see the show.

_The immediate threat would be all the walkers on the outside..._

Hundreds of thousands of people.

_The future threat would be if one of the walkers got in-_

All locked into one small path.

_And bit one of us._

All lined up perfectly and neatly into one easy line and crowd.

_The only way to deal with that, would be to stop us from being bit and changed._

"GET DOWN!" I screamed as the whir of on rushing jet's barrel guns began to speed up.

And unleashed wave after wave of bullets into crowds of people.

I grabbed Raffi and Michael as hard as I could and hit the ground.

I had heard how some bullets could tear through people. How some were shattered when a wave of bullets hit them... But watching as people were ripped in half or were broken as their skulls were blasted apart. How they just dropped to the ground as they were nothing short of obliterated by the endless waves.

The bullets stopped short just before the fountain as though some aura was radiating out blocking the jet from firing directly onto it...

or any where near the area around us.

I clung tightly to the other two as I turned and pulled them both sharply. My fingers lacing with Raffi as he grabbed onto Michael all as our surroundings slowed down, our minds allowing our reactions to start taking over, giving only way to the sound of our pounding hearts.

I turned his head in time to see a new missile to be unleashed and relentlessly bombard into the statue as he too unleashed his barrage of bullets which struck those who were all around the fence...

Destroying the gate and fence which had us all blocked in.

The last thing that I saw before I sprinted into the tree cover was the palace going up in flames as the jets unleashed their missile arsenal onto the building.

Our eyes sparkled faintly and involuntarily as the windows exploded. Fire burst from each pane as the bricks were rocketed onto the rows of the dead bodies which were (if not already) crushed and obliterated beyond entire recognition. All that was left of them was a stream of crimson which lined and stained the bricks of the roads and every expanse of free colour around the square.

Raffi began to turn back to run after some people who tripped and went crashing but the ground by my body reacted by itself as just grabbed the boy's hand tighter. We were at the bottom of the park and not that far from a subway. The tunnels were a perfect place right now to duck and hide!

But with two jets now turning towards them in the park and with Raffi and Michael trying to run towards some people who had fallen and were now being blasted through their torso by bullets.

It made the whole ordeal much more difficult to survive through.

The worst sight was what came next. I watched in the distance as one man's eyes widened while his torso began to tear apart. A large circle of his chest cavity was eradicated before he fell to the floor and could no longer bear life; his eyes fading. "RAFFI! MICHAEL! FOR FUCK SAKE COME ON!" I screamed as the two jets over head locked onto them... Or so it looked.

I grabbed the smaller boy's hand as the three of us sprinted back up the brick stone path.

I heard the final note of the melody which I thought would be my death as I heard missiles which were launched to the ground behind us.

Brick by brick flew into the air as the intense shock wave began lifting the path out of the very ground. A angry roar and growl pierced the sky as both jets banked sharply and began to circle around the area as they shot precisely and expertly._  
><em>

I didn't say anything as the ground vanished beneath mu feet and the shock wave caught up with me. It was as though, for a moment, it was like how people say, you watch something happening from outside of your body. I could see myself beginning to turn and flip forward like a rag doll or a leaf caught on a runway at the air port.

But even as watched for a moment as my eyes connected with Raffi's, I tried to pour a simple message into the gaze that I could no longer put in words. The shock wave drew out ever ounce of oxygen from my lungs as I stared at him blankly. _Run. _I made my gaze plead, desperately to him. _Please, for the love of god. Just run. _

The pale emerald eyes stared back blankly at me before Raffi turned and took off running, pulling Michael along with him.

Neither of them looked back to meet as I smashed through the air and crashed into the trunk of a tree nearby.

_**~End of Flash back- Present day. Raffi & Michael POV~**_

The night was cold as distant shadows were shifting slightly as they searched through the dense and ongoing mess of a forest. The rain was still ongoing and vicious. It never seemed to stop raining these days. It seemed ever since the world came crashing down, the sun had just given up an attempt to come back. The skies were always an endless cascade of a Columbus grey clouds. They never broke and gave way, even for one minute.

The stars and the moon never shined any more. Like the sun, they seemed reclined to be hidden and put away. As though they didn't deem any person worth the sight of them any more.

The sounds of crunching twigs and squelching mood bounced off the trees as two boys trudged through the unstable ground. It was an exertion to do even the smallest thing such as walking through the terrain. The two figures wore both shorts and skin tight shirts which tried to keep their skin warm against the constant battle of rain, gale force wind and dropped temperature.

Around their waists was a sight not ordinary for these two fourteen year old boys. A pistol was placed in the taller boy's belt while in the smaller one was a hunting knife which had started to get a little rusty. The smaller boy's hair was plastered down to his brow and covering his hair slightly as he sighed and shouldered the heavy backpack he was having to carry. The lilac and turquoise colour had begun to fade and lose it's colour as it was thick and stuck with either dirt or the constant battle of rain.

Both paused as they turned and quickly checked around the area. "Come on. The warehouse isn't much further ahead." The taller boy turned and it took a while but eventually his features began to become defined and focused into view.

Michael was still the same old boy, whether or not he physically looked different over the expense of the last year; his buzz cut hair had grown slightly more. Whether he looked stronger and more toned didn't matter. All that mattered was the dark and tired expression which was weighed in his eyes. "We should stay there and get some rest."

Raffi looked down to his wrist and sighed as he ran his hand over the blue and pink _WWLGD_ band. What would Lady Gaga Do. He had found it after he had ran back after the area had been given the all clear sign._  
><em>

The band was the only thing that had been left of him, except for a small puddle of blood which had stained the trunk of the tree.

To this day, Raffi could still smell the sickly metallic scent of blood.

He blinked hard through the rain as he looked around for any sign of there being some end to this forest.

That's when he finally glanced towards a small rusty and broke shell of a building. "There it is." He whispered as they glanced over their shoulders. The shadows were already moving closer towards them; staggering with laboured movements. "The walkers." Raffi hissed as he took off sprinting towards the grating metal and heavy doors.

He didn't notice his shadow elongate and thicken slightly as a burst of lightning filled the sky.

All that mattered was getting inside the warehouse. "You've still got that band after all this time?" Michael growled as he heaved against the door frame, trying desperately to open it as the sounds of growls got closer.  
>"Yeah!" Raffi snapped defensively. "So what!"<br>"So. Harry is dead!" Michael snarled and pulled the smaller boy inside and bolted the door shut.

Neither noticed as in a flash of lightning, a dark figure loomed over in the tree as rain poured onto them.

Then with another flash and dark light of a black mask.

It was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**So hi everyone. I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to update this story. I know I've neglected it, but I think now I have a better idea and plan of what I want to do with it. Hope you guys like this update! Warning: Story contains, boyxboy, heavy violence, death, dark themes, mentions of abuse, swearing and ratings may be turned up at a later time.**

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><p>Adults always tell their children that their are no such thing as monsters: There's no such thing as the darkness that is under the bed, there's none of the shadows that lurk in the corners of rooms or that pass by your window.<p>

Parents are so good at telling lies. They lie so well that eventually even they come to believe their own truths.

It is quite powerful how self belief can fuel someone. Belief that they are not in a world where they are the most powerful. A world where they are ants beneath people's feet. Humans... they are the smallest of creations. The think that they are supreme? Well there's just one problem with that.

There are creatures. Creatures that walk the surface of this world. Belonging not to the light as humans do, but to the darkness, the only thing they know is death and death is all that knows them. They hunger eternally for us. They hunger for flesh. They see no distinction, any more than a animal would. Bust most cruelly to us, they wear the faces of those we love. Those who love us. Those we remember. Those we long to forget.

They are the ultimate weapon.

After all, how can you truly ever win against something which can weaponize the dead.

The sound of rain outside hammering against the metal framing of the warehouse was all that the two boys could hear as they panted for their breaths, soaked through to their skins. Their lose fitting clothes hung off their frames and both looked ready to collapse but only surveyed their surroundings with curious and keen eyes. The raised but small windows above them howled and rattled loudly in their frames, the glass of which was cracked and looked ready to give in.

The air stank of rust, just like the old steel hinges which looked ready at any point to give way and collapse. The only light which was available came to them half an hour later when one of them dug out a lighter and smashed open one of the wooden crates around them, using it to coax warmth into their bones and with the aid of the cold moonlight outside, some light over their faces.

"We seem to have hit the jackpot. God knows we just seemed to have to leave our own country to get it."

Slowly Michael sat down with a grunt and a sigh against a nearby pillar, his body soaking in the warmth of the fire as he glanced around, his mind always not comfy with what was around. The years had aged him, his dark eyes looking ancient and exhausted in the low flickering light. They seemed out of place on the sixteen year old's face. They looked like the eyes of an old man, weighed down with pain and thoughts of the reality that they were trapped in.

His shirt was still plastered down to his chest as he was still regaining his breath. The air felt thin in there, like the walls around him were closing in. His face was slick with sweat and gleamed with it, even as he brushed the grime off it and lent back in his position to make himself more comfortable. Gazing across to the small pendant which was connected b a few silver chains around his neck. He knew he didn't have the strength to open it. Well, physically he did, but should he have opened it, he knew that mentally he wouldn't be able to handle it.

The years had been rough to him. He had watched them all in horror, never able to reflect on them for too long for fear of the fact that it would destroy him. For two years they had managed to stay alive still in their own country. Him and Raffi, that being. They had been carried out of London in the main exodus and flee for safety. When people realized that their own country wouldn't help them, everything had gone to hell.

But the exodus hadn't stopped at London.

England was a small place, especially when the dead outnumbered the living.

But hell had followed them eventually.

"It's funny, you know... you're a hypocrite." A voice softly whispered.

Michael said nothing but only shed his dark jacket and threw it on the cold concrete floor next to the fire to let it dry out. His jeans were soaked through still but he didn't care at that point. His mind was else where. He just ran a hand over his buzz cut hair and through the stubble on his neck and chin. His eyes eventually raising enough to look at the boy sat across from him.

Raffi had grown surely. The color running free of his hair, his figure like Michael in their hungry state was twig like and underfed but neither cared particularly about their appearance. When you fought for survival on a daily basis, you forgot about such things as vanity. The appearance that humans so based their every day life around became nothing but a commodity, especially to either of them.

Unlike Michael who always went over his hair the knife that he kept attached to his belt and always sharpened. Raffi hadn't cared about his hair much, it had grown out in a shaggy mess. Just touching the bottom of his neck, it had grown into a wild unkempt arrange of spikes and cover of a fringe on his head, touching down just bellow his right eye. His skin was pale, touched by the many days and the long amount of time he and Michael had spent in hiding over the course of the years.

He was curled up at the edge of the fire, with his arms wound protectively around his knees, his chin resting on top as he stared half at Michael and half at the fire. His eyes were fierce and piercing, like a knife straight to the soul. After all, over the years, with the few amount of people that they had encountered, Raffi had found it become more an vital talent to be able to read people. To understand them, to see what was going through their minds before they themselves even had the time to realize they had thought it.

A talent which had saved his an Michael's asses on more than one occasion.

The boy wore a white shirt which had been tore at the arms so it resembled much more of a vest now than anything. His hands absentmindedly played with the wrist band, which was all that he had left of his friend. Five years had passed and yet not a day went by where Raffi didn't forget the events of London. Remembering the feeling of being sprayed by the blood of a hundred people. The feeling of the fire and the sight of it as he had watched his friend killed in the park.

"You would look down on me for trying to remember Harry... but you don't even have the balls to look at that locket, let alone think about your best friend!"  
>"Exactly." Michael stated, his eyes taking a more stern strictness to themselves suddenly. "I knew him far more than you did." He stated coldly then turned his gaze down. "We were ten. The world went to hell and everyone with it." He said quietly, though there was a cold growl to his voice as he raised his gaze up slowly. The boy's eyes were impassive and closed, impossible to read except for what he willingly let the other boy take from his expression.<br>Raffi just sneered.  
>"He died. Harry died and became-"<br>"How the hell do we know!"

Michael sat back and his eyes became a little sad as he looked over at his friend. "He died Raffi. He was claimed in that fire and smashed against a tree. What ever is left of him out there, is far from alive. It's been five years-"  
>"Five years and in all that time we never went back to look for him! You're wrong-"<br>"On the contrary. I was ten years old when I started fighting for myself and for you. For five years I've kept us alive, so I do believe that I must be doing _something _right." Michael stated smoothly. "Besides, Harry was already injured on that night, please do tell me, even if he managed to survive that fire and the explosion, say that the concussion he would have gotten afterwards didn't kill him either. Please tell me, after him having injured his leg? How would he have been able to survive that night?"

This was always what happened between the two of them.

Whenever they brought up the other member of their trio, it would always end up going to-

_**"BLEAGH!" **_

Both boy's immediately snatched out their hands for the knives on their belts as the metal on the walls groaned. Grasping fingers smashed through the glass above them and echoes of hisses ruptured through the air around them.

_Chaos. _Raffi finished the thought bitterly. His exhausted body barely even having the strength to rise.

Both boys had been running for two days, with little time to sleep or rest, they hadn't allowed themselves to stop except only when needed in the most direst of situations, and still, here they were, entrapped by the hell which never seemed to be but a corner away.

"Damn it." Michael growled, rising to his feet quickly, his fingers curled tightly around the handle of the knife as he watched the hungry mouths gnashing violently at the frames of the windows and the doors shaking violently on their hinges.

Both knew they had no chance right now. Against one walker? Yes. One of them could distract it while the other moved around the back and stabbed it in the head. Against two? Maybe. Maybe if they were fast, agile and quick.

"Five. Six. Seven. Eight." Raffi growled under his breath as he was still watching the numbers of hands smashing through the old and tired metal doors increase. "Shit that's a freaking lot."  
>Michael looked between his friend and the force of an on growing hoard of the walkers which seemed to be growing by the second. His heart was screaming away in his chest, he had gotten them trapped in one place. He should have known better! He should have found a more secure place! He should have at least made sure they both got some energy back or had a plan ready just in encase!<p>

He looked around, fear gripping his heart more firmly with each and every second. More of the windows around them were caving in, the doors were shaking more and more, the hinges which kept them up were beginning to come loose. That wasn't just simply one or two Walkers out there. No. But what had drawn them here! Normally they wouldn't be drawn by the likes of two people. It took a group of about three people in an area to get the hungry bastards going like this! Normally Michael and Raffi were fine if they slipped through by themselves!

He had to think. He had to think!  
>"We've got no chance! We can't take on-" Raffi began.<p>

But then both boys froze, almost like the walkers at the window in fact.

The allure of the two warm blooded boys inside seemed to be taken away by something.

Something which must have been a lot closer than they were.

A sound like the metal being slowly and violently stripped free, being torn to pieces echoed around both of their ears filling both of them. The sound of hissing was cut off by the impossibly loud sound to ignore of flesh being sheared clean from bone. The sound of the Walker's final hiss that they always called out with before they were finished off.

Michael and Raffi both froze.

Blood and chunks splattered across the window pane causing Raffi to turn his head away and vomit as it dripped down the walls slowly. Even Michael had to pull his hand to his nose from the awful smelling of rot and decay which intoxicated the air. "Jesus Christ." He hissed, gagging on the foul smell, but keeping his guard up none the less.

Slowly one of the hands which had been at the side of the window came crashing down through the pane of glass but hung limply as the large shards stabbed through it, it's dark blood flowing freely down the cold and cracked structure.

Michael patted Raffi's back as the blond was still bringing up the little amount of contents from his stomach as the foul stench and the sight they had just seen.

the doors had stopped groaning. The metal had stopped protesting but now only stood there silent in front of Michael as the boy's eyes searched through the shadows for anything which may have been a-

He ducked just in time as an object passed through the air past his head, his voice calling out at the same point that Raffi had cried out.

Then the rogue Walker which had crept up on them through the shadows hissed out before sinking to the floor with part of it's skull painted across the large crates of wood and it's dark blood and brains splattered on the floor.

Michael's jaw hung open for a second before he turned back towards the window pane above him where the object had shot from, like a speeding bullet, but without the form, the shape or speed. But Michael wasn't fooled, the object had been fast, incredibly fast. It had came within skinning distance of his head, so close that before he had moved, he had felt the air sharply sting him around it before it had met it's target.

He only flinched back when one final roar of a slam came from the windows around him and a tree outside collapsed, crushing down over the window, blocking off what ever entry there was other than the doors now. Only one way in and one way out.

The only light left in the shadows was the flickering camp fire.

Even with the sound of thunder outside and the roar of rain, he could still hear Raffi whisper.

"What the hell was that."

Far away under the crest of the cold risen moon, a small town was cut off, watching from the comfort of it's secure borders as the storm passed them over but still the faint drizzle of rain still holstered over them. The blade of grass blew in the still faint wind as the air was still whipped up slightly with the lingerings of what had passed, the worst being gone but still they were not without it's lingering grip.

Out on the front porch of a single house the small flickering candle sat on the white washed balcony as a boy sat with a wrapped bundle in his arms. Rocking gently back and forth, hushing softly almost like the tune of a lullaby as his incredibly soft blue eye looked out across the rain and the distance as lightning illuminated it. His mess of dark brown hair came into view with the warm light of the candle and cold stab of the lightning. He stared out across the distance tree tops watching the distance storm.

"Easy there Judith." He whispered gently, rocking the baby with his brotherly love, keeping her warm in the blankets and against his chest. "Ain't nothing gonna come hurt you while your big brother is around." He promised, his voice was soft and tender as it always was towards her. A sheriff's hat rested on his head, almost like that of something to comfort him, more than anything else.

He wore a lose shirt and a pair of fresh jeans, but he didn't really care about how he looked at that moment. His baby sister's cries had woken him up from his nightmares, so he had gone to check on her. His father hadn't stirred, the exhaustion of that days scavenge seemed to have taken it's toll. He didn't mind though anyway. Sometimes coming out here and sitting on the rocking chair, coaxing sleep back into the girl was therapeutic to him, it eased him.

"Well I feel a lot more safer with you around." A voice whispered gently.

The boy barely looked up but let his eye widen slightly with worry as the thin figure of a boy slid onto the porch next to him. "God damn it Charlie, you gave me a fright! The storm got you restless? You normally come during the worst of it?"  
>"I found myself a little busy, didn't I?" The figure Charlie sighed in a tired but considerably different accent than the other boy.<p>

In the dark it was hard to make out a lot of their details, spare the faint light which was cast on them from the candle.

The boy wore some tight jeans and a black shirt, his skin was warm toned but still pale in retrospect to a lot of the others around here.

Not as pale as it had once been though.

From what little light there was cast upon him, his cold platinum hair shined ever so faintly in the dark. The boy was moving slowly, heavily laid with exhaustion. In fact he looked ready at that moment to keel over from what the blue eyed boy could see. "Damn it Charlie, you went out there by yourself again, didn't you!"  
>"Not now Carl." Charlie stated.<p>

Carl paused for a moment, listening to something behind Charlie's voice. He had known Charlie since he was a kid, god above. Charlie was probably the only person around spare his dad, and a few others that he had known and allowed himself to get close to. He still remembered when they had been but kids, both ten year old's out in their old camp. Back when Carl had thought his father was dead and gone. Charlie was one of the kindest boys that Carl had ever come across, the closest friend he had ever had in his life. He was someone Carl knew he could always go to and vice versa. He was protective of Charlie, that was for sure, but of course, in their situation he would be anyway, even if the world wasn't in hell. He still remembered those years ago when they had but just been kids and he had used to go and play in the woods with Charlie, well, at least a few months after Charlie had initially-

"I'm sorry." Charlie whispered, bringing Carl out of his thoughts. "I was just... I got myself a bit of a surprise out there tonight. "You forgive me?"  
>"Well, if I didn't, who else would put up with your little bitchy ass." He teased with a small smiling to let the boy know he wasn't trying to be mean. He slowly raised one of the large blankets that he had wrapped over himself and Judith across the rocking chair. "Now get it over here." He smiled gently, and watched the thankful tired one returned to him.<p>

Charlie was only a small, thin thing bless him. Same age as Carl, but the boy was deceptive in his looks. His thin figure often made people mistake him that he was weak, but Carl knew better. Heck, anyone who knew Charlie after an amount of time around him knew better. But still, Carl knew the comfort the boy took. Charlie was terrified of storms and would always come to him when there was one raging.

Carl didn't mind. After all, why would he?

He felt Charlie's arm wrap around his shoulder and the boy lounge back from the spot he took on the arm of the rocking chair. His hair fell over his eyes and the right side of his face remained hidden, but Carl didn't care. He just enjoyed that quiet little moment with the boy and his baby sister. The only sound was the rumble of thunder above them, followed by the bright flash of lightning. Charlie would flinch slightly as he always did with such incredibly loud sounds or intense brightness of such a magnitude, but Carl would only just lean his head back into the arm, his free arm wound back around the boy to support him where he was sat as the two boys stared out to the storm.

But after about ten minutes and the storm raging worse, Carl couldn't help himself much more. "I hate it when you go out there alone." He said as softly as he could, pulling the smaller boy a bit closer under the warmth of the blanket when he felt him trembling.  
>"I know." Charlie whispered back. His voice wasn't as deep as Carl's, just a tone or so a bit lighter. But even so, Carl could still hear the trembling slightly in it. "But you don't have to."<br>"I worry about any poor sucker that is out there past those borders." Carl stated, turning his eye up. "You've never come back from a trip like this before...But any way, of course I'm gonna worry about you-"  
>"I just got a surprise. I found a couple of people out there. Two boys. They were in some trouble... I cleared the way for them." Charlie's body tensed and Carl just turned his gaze up slightly, worried.<br>"Should we go help them-"  
>"No." Charlie stated with a coldness in his voice that Carl had never heard the other boy use in his entire time of knowing him. Not ever in all the time, through the mocking that Charlie received, not in the comments that were passed to him, never, not even towards the Walkers, had Carl ever heard Charlie use such a bottomless venom in his voice which he had just done. "It's too late to be wondering out there. The storm will make it harder and it's a sure suicide mission to attempt anything before the storm clears. Those Walker's would just creep up on us and rip us apart. Besides, the boy's are safe and boxed up inside the warehouse where I left them."<p>

Charlie's hand slowly closed into a fist.

"They ain't going anywhere, any time soon. Besides... a sleepless night in a hell hole like that... that's just the least they deserve." Charlie stated harshly. "We can go and get them in the morning with your father if you want. But I'm staying away from them, the moment the area is clear, I'm turning away. I'll stick around to keep your back, but that's all. That's all they'll get from me." He whispered, more softly with each passing word, just before he slumped into Carl's embrace and slowly slid off into a restless, haunted sleep.

Carl just sat there for a few moments, staring in wonder and disbelief at the other boy. Worry was set inside of him, he had never known in his whole time with Charlie for the boy to hate anyone. Even for those who tried to steal off them the boy would just look sadly at Carl and the brown haired boy would know that Charlie would be thinking of just how he wanted to help the people. Never had Charlie turned his back on any one, he had always been there, tried to help other.

It's what Carl most loved about the boy.

But what worried him was what could have happened which could have had Charlie angry like this? Who were these two boys?

Carl frowned slightly.

And what the hell had they done to Charlie?


	3. Chapter 3

**So hi everyone. Thanks for the favorites and follows! Have a lovely day/night wherever you are! Warning: Story contains, boyxboy, heavy violence, death, dark themes, mentions of abuse, swearing and ratings may be turned up at a later time.**

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><p>There was still a rustle in the leafs outside as a faint drizzle of the rain from the night made it's call out to nearby ears. The cool water sprinkled itself down the concrete, drizzling it's way through the broken shards of shattered glass. The blood which had been splattered across the floor and the walls of the previous night had washed away. The embers at the heart of the small fire which had faded towards the break of dawn still glowed hot in their small pit. A trail of wisp like smoke slowly rose, curling, trailing delicately before dissipating.<p>

A few rays of sunlight were able to bleed through the gaps of the branches and across the delicate face of the sleeping blond boy who was curled up in an attempt to keep warm next to the dead fire. His soft pale face was covered still with dirt and grime, not being able to have gotten a true chance to rest or wash in a long while. But for as terrified as he had been, his body hadn't been able to keep it up. He had just been so tired, his body had just been so completely drained, he had no chance.

But even now in the sleep, there was something about him. His sharp jaw line, the way the morning light filtered over his pink tinged eyelids and the dark shadows which hung around his closed orbs. The poor fifteen year old looked as exhausted as he felt. So many years on the run. So many years having to try and escape from the hell which had possessed their world like a growing cancer.

His eyes flew open and the boy lurched forward, taking a sharp and pained breath.

So many years haunted by the nightmare of what once was.

Still now the blond could see it.

He could see the sight of fire licking up the side of his friend's face. Watching as the boy had been lifted off his feet by the sheer energy and power of the missile which had brought up the ground in an almighty heave around them. He remembered watching the flesh bubble and burn, blistering away agonizingly from his friend's face. The sickening crack of bones which roared out when the limp body of the third member of their group, smashed into the tree, burying themselves deeply on it while their skin still burnt away on their face.

Oh god Harry.

He was their friend and they had left him there to die. The three boys were all they had in one another. The only people left in the world they had any more were each other. They were all that could have been, what could have resembled a family for one another. But instead they had only abandoned one of their own and left him there to rot and die... or to a worse fate.

They should have at least taken his body! To bury him! He deserved that-  
>"Nightmares again huh?"<p>

Raffi blinked his eyes clear of tears and sleep which had gathered in them, only to sharpen his gaze as he looked over at Michael with reprehension. It was no secret that he blamed Michael for leaving their friend behind. He often growled it in his saddest moments at the boy with a venom like no other. He had lost everything in their flee _to _London, never mind what came afterwards. They had been evacuated from their home town and moved down to the great city where everyone had thought it would be safe.

Look how well that had gone.

Raffi had sat there, praying, to any deity or god above that might have been listening, he prayed with all of his soul as he had watched the buildings collapsing and crushing down onto one another. The skyscrapers had blown in the wind like paper, screaming out in groans of protested metal tearing and the roar when the glass had shattered and rained down on those bellow. Had the giant shards not killed them, then when the building finally having given way, that itself had.

Raffi still remembered, the sight of blood churning up freshly through the leaking cracks of the buildings as he had run, run through street after street trying to find his friends. He just knew that above anything else had had to find them, some how he had to just find a way to get to them. He had to figure out a plan, something to save them, something to get them out of there!

But his plan had only ended up getting one of them killed.

He pulled his arms around his legs as he slowly sat up, rubbing his hand across his face to try and clear away the exhaustion but finding little aid in doing it. His body still ached and stung with cold from the night before. His legs felt like heavy lead and his head was bogged down with the murky thoughts which clouded him. "Don't ask questions that you already know the answers to." He stated quietly.  
>"You're never going to forgive me are you?"<p>

Raffi raised his gaze to look up at the other boy.

Michael's eyes were heavy with bags and exhaustion. He looked a wreck. Raffi could tell the boy may have cried a bit in the night from the puffiness in Michael's eyes. The dark haired boy must have stayed awake on guard duty, letting the blond get some sleep. Michael had a faint tremble go through his toned body, but he still looked chained down with his own exhaustion and by the image that he normally radiated off himself. "But what you forget is you knew him, what? a year? Two at most? I had known him for far longer-"  
>"But-"<br>"But I didn't care for him the way you obviously did." Michael stated in his own rather harsh tone. "You just waited for him to be gone before you finally acknowledged how you felt." The olive toned boy narrowed his piercing gaze as his hands fumbled with an object he had found partially embedded into the concrete floor last night. Raffi however just rose to his feet quietly with an impassive face as Michael continued his onslaught of words. "It's a shame, if you may have told him while he was still alive, he may have gone to the afterlife actually believing he was loved, instead of always wondering if a coward he had eyes for ever actually looked back at him-"

Michael fell to the floor while Raffi cursed, holding his fist in pain and shaking it.

He glowered at the knocked out boy with eyes full of merciless anger and bitterness.

But even so... he knew the words were true.

He could try and hide behind as much anger as he wanted to, but he knew that just no matter how many excuses he would make, he would never be able to change the simple fact that it had been his fault. He had just been too much of a coward to ever try and deal with what it was that he had felt.

Now the boy was gone and he was left with the reality crushing him every day that he took a breath.

Raffi slowly rose pulling his arms around himself tightly as he wondered towards the rusty great iron doors where the cold sunlight was trying to stream through, but was still being restrained behind it's blanket of silver clouds up above. The holes in the old rusty metal where the Walkers had tried to bust through left a big enough space to see parts of the outside, but Raffi wanted to see it for himself.

It was deadly silent outside sparse for the faint drizzle of rain which kept falling down onto the roof of the warehouse and the canvas of trees. The sky was bleak but the light was desperately trying to break through. The trees still towered around him like an endless army of titans in the early light, the perfect cover for the monsters that mingled among them, but still it was in a way almost like that of a reprieve to be hidden among them too. To be in the meadow of wild grown flowers of red, white and other colours, it was such a different sight as to what the blond was used to anymore, it was such a difference from the collapsed cities to see a sight of nature, flowers and running rivers...But that's not what essentially drew Raffi's sight right away.

Around him were the corpses in the dozens. Laying in pieces, their bodies savagely ripped apart and having turned the soil beneath them a deep crimson. The nearby white roses were painted red with the blood of the dead. The air was not as sweet as it had been when he and Michael had been running on the previous day, but now only stank of decay and rot. Eventually he had to even pull his jacket around his face to try and deal with the stench as it was so overwhelming.

Raffi had never truly seen something like this... he had never seen a wave of walkers destroyed or ripped apart to this extent. Animals normally avoided them so it couldn't have been a bear. As he examined the corpses closer he decided that whatever had done this, had been trained to do so. The wounds to the slices open heads, the cut off arms, the slashed legs. They were all too neat. It was not savage enough to be like that of a bear.

But the strength behind the marks across the corpses... to slice so clean through flesh and bone like that? That took skilled practice.

The real surprise came to him though when he turned to gaze back at the doors he had nervously wondered through.

The metal was sheared and lashed like a tornado had shredded the outer layer.

That was the first bit of the surprise.

The second bit came when Raffi read the words which had been left on them. _"Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." _

Written in the blood of the now once more dead Walkers.

Raffi was still staring at the words with horror and staring around him at the littered field of corpses when Michael came outside and was growling under his breath rubbing his forehead. But even he too fell silent when he saw the mayhem and blood shed which had been left at their doorstep and around them. "What the hell does it mean?" Michael frowned.  
>"It's a poem, by Dylan Thomas in 1914." Raffi said gently, the words of the old poem coming to him as familiarly as they always did with old literature. <em>"Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day; rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, because their words had forked no lightning they do not go gentle into that good night. Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, rage, rage against the dying of the light. Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, and learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, do not go gentle into that good night. Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, rage, rage against the dying of the light. And you, my father, there on the sad height, curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." <em>The words were impeccably soft leaving Raffi's lips with a caress and care in each syllable.  
>"I still don't get it." Michael frowned, looking around at the massacre of the walkers around them, looking over to where the tree has smashed down on the side of the warehouse crushing three more corpses. He looked down even to the spiked point black arrow that had nearly taken his head off like the Walker that had managed to sneak up on them. The arrow was sleek with a hooked point, meaning if it managed to sink into flesh, it would anything but easy to pull it out.<br>"It means you're a bit out of your territory here. Now who the hell are you!"  
>"Easy Carl!"<p>

Raffi frowned turning his gaze up slowly.

Stood at the edge of the clearing behind them were two men and a boy, maybe a year or so older than them? The boy and the man must have been father an son. Raffi's artistic eye could notice the subtle sharpness and both the man and the boy shared in their jaw, the way they both stood, even the same shade of dark brown hair, though the boy's toppled down nearly to his shoulders while the man kept his relatively short cut, though he looked like he could do with a shave.

The boy glared at both Michael and Raffi with a suspicious sapphire blue eye that glinted in the drizzle of the lingering storm light. The boy was tensed, looking between them as though he wanted nothing more at that moment but to beat a few answers out of them, but he seemed to be restraining himself for the sake of something, something Raffi couldn't quite figure out.

The boy a fresh set of bandages over his right eye making Raffi wonder just exactly what might have happened to him to solicit a wound like that? But other than that, the boy wore a warm aviator jacket, a tight button up plaid shirt and some jeans, though surprisingly to Raffi, the boy also wore a sheriff hat... what the heck was that all about?

"You're both a little young to be out here by yourself, let alone to finish of this many walkers." The boy's father said, signalling the other man to head around the warehouse to check it out to see if any more corpses were still lingering about. "My name's Rick. This is my son Carl, you two seem to be a bit lost don't you?"  
>"Can't be lost if you don't really have any place to go." Michael said calmly, turning his stone like gaze up to the older man, but anxiously taking note of the fact that the man was armed with a cold silver python pistol like his son.<br>"Where are your parents." Rick frowned, looking between them, waiting for an answer as both fell quiet and bit their lips unsure how to answer. "Are they dead." Rick asked, adding a degree of gentleness to his voice at seeing both boys downcast their eyes to the floor.  
>"No." Raffi said softly.<br>"So they're alive then-"  
>"I never said that, did I?" The blond stated, his voice almost coldly mechanical as he raise his gaze to glare at the man. His pain written across his face like a fresh wound.<br>"Ah." Rick nodded, turning his gaze down for a second before looking back between both boys. "I see... I'm sorry."  
>"Why. More people are dying most days now than ever. Why should it matter." Michael stated coldly. "We're stragglers. We keep alive by ourselves, we've done so for the last five years. This country was less infested than our home, we did what we had to do to escape-"<br>"But it seems that you needed a hand or two last night." Rick stated sternly, glancing over at his son who kept his gaze locked on the boys. "Two unarmed boys taking down this many Walkers? That doesn't just happen-"  
>"We're in the dark here as much as you are." Michael frowned, looking over Rick in his leather jacket and shirt.<p>

The man towered above them with dominance and strength. He radiated his own type of quiet power with those dark eyes of his. Eyes which seemed to be laced with pain and loss. Even so, Michael knew exactly what he had said and why he had said it. He may not have had Raffi's keen perceptive senses, but he still glanced out the corner of his eye to the blond boy as Rick turned for a second with a long look at his son.

"We can't leave you out here by yourself." He stated quietly, pondering for a moment and weighing up the options in his head.  
>"But Pa! We can't! Resources are tight as it is! We have to look out for ourselves first-"<br>"What the hell has gotten into you this morning?" Rick frowned, watching his son with surprise. He had never seen his boy act like this, what could have gotten into him to make him like this?  
>"Do we know you or something?" Raffi frowned, eying up the boy with a frown. He knew that he had never met or seen this boy before, he had a distinctive skill for remembering faces, but for whatever reason, this boy seemed to have a distinct sharpness of dislike about Raffi and Michael, or at least an open distrust at any point.<br>"If it hadn't been for that... storm." Rick glanced over his shoulder with a pointed look as his son turned his gaze away, "then last night you both you would be joining your parents, or worse this morning... Besides we could be using a couple of more guards." Rick glanced down one last time, tensing his jaw as though he was about to make a decision he was really going to regret. "Carl... take them back to the town. Me and Daryl will be back soon, we'll see just exactly what it is that we can get out of this warehouse... But When I get back, I think we need to have a little chat."

Carl looked up for a long moment as his father before setting his jaw tight and nodded. "This way." He said coldly over to Michael and Raffi.

Only when they were five or so minutes away from the warehouse and had stayed in the pregnant pause of silence did Raffi quietly mutter, "so are you this welcoming with all other guys that you meet, or are we the exception."  
>"I don't know yet." Carl muttered, his eye warily locked on both of them. "But I'll be keeping an eye on you both."<br>_Looks like you don't really have much of one to spare. _Raffi thought to himself with a glare at the boy.  
>"If I find out either of you two are up to anything, or try to hurt anyone in our town? You will be out in the forest and Walker food before you even know what's hit you?"<p>

Carl knew that he was coming across harsh but the fact was that he had just too much to protect at that time for everything to start going to hell for two boys... Charlie had never felt it in his need to keep anything from Carl before... so what was special enough about these two boys to make, sweet, caring Charlie want to leave them out here as Walker food? Who were these two boys... and just exactly who were they to Charlie?


End file.
